Wall base member

ABSTRACT

A skirting member for fitting around the base of a wall or partition comprising an elongated plastic molding having a vertical forwardly facing decorative flange, a rearwardly extending base flange and a flexible flap for concealing the cut edges of flooring material, this flap being in effect a continuation of the decorative flange. The base flange may either be attached to a floor by rivets or screws, or may be held in place by being inserted into the gap under a partition.

United States Patent Harby Feb. 1, 1972 [54] WALL BASE MEMBER [72]Inventor: Bernard M. llarby, West Vancouver,

British Columbia, Canada Bernard Harby Limited, British Columbia, Canada[22] Filed: Jan. 12, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 2,170

[73] Assignee: Vancouver,

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 8, 1969 Canada ..069,251

[52] U.S.Cl ..52/l00,52/273,52/288, 52/717 [51] Int. Cl. ..E04t 19/04[58] Field ofSearch ..52/273, 287, 288, 716, 717, 52/58, 82, 98, 100,393, 403, 254, 242, 241

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,149,742 3/1939 Miller.52/716 X lrwin ..52/288 X 3,160,280 12/1964 Burch 3,363,390 1/1968Crane et al 3 ,470,662 10/ l 969 Kellman ..52/99 F ORElGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 1,169,927 11/1969 Great Britain ..52/288 PrimaryExaminer-Price C. Faw, Jr. Attorney-Stevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher [57]ABSTRACT A skirting member for fitting around the base of a wall orpartition comprising an elongated plastic molding having a verticalforwardly facing decorative flange, a rearwardly extending base flangeand a flexible flap for concealing the cut edges of flooring material,this flap being in efiect a continuation of the decorative flange. Thebase flange may either be attached to a floor by rivets or screws, ormay be held in place by being inserted into the gap under a partition.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB 1 1972 FIG.2

PATENTEU FEE 1 1972 SHEU 2 0F 2 WALL BASE MEMBER The present inventionrelates to a skirting member for fitting around the base of a wall orpartition, to provide a decorative exposed vertical surface and toconceal the cut edges of the carpet or other flooring material. Suchother flooring material may be either resilient or hard material, andmay for example be in the form of tiles.

In accordance with the present invention, a skirting member for fittingaround the base of a wall or partition comprises an elongated angledmoulding of plastics material having a normally vertical flange, anupper portion of which flange has an exposed decorative front face, abase flange extending substantially horizontally and rearwardly from thelower edge of said vertical flange, and a flexible flap for concealingthe edges of flooring material and sloping forwardly and downwardly fromthe lower edge of said upper portion of the vertical flange.

The term decorative is used in this context in a broad sense as meaningan exposed surface of pleasing appearance and not necessarily meaningthat the skirting member is provided with any special decoration. Infact, the front face of the upper portion of the vertical flange mayhave the normal smooth surface as produced by extruding the moulding,and may be of the same or similar appearance to the remainder of themoulding.

Also, it will be understood that the term moulding is used herein tomean a more or less decorative strip rather than an article which hasbeen moulded.

Where a gap exists between the floor and the bottom edge of a partitionor wall, the base flange may be inserted in this gap. In this case, thebase flange preferably has a width sufficient that its outer edgeprojects from beneath the far side of the partition or wall. This outeredge is preferably provided with an upstanding rib which registers withthe far side of the partition or wall to hold the moulding in place.

If no such gap exists, the base flange is preferably made relativelynarrow, and is rivetted, nailed or screwed directly to the floor. Forthis purpose the base flange may be drilled, but is preferably made of amaterial which is penetrable by rivets or nails.

A preferred embodiment of the moulding has a wide base flange suitablefor insertion under a partition or wall, and the flange also has alongitudinally extending notch near to its center, allowing the outeredge of this flange to be broken away when there is no gap into whichthe flange can be inserted.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described byway of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I shows the moulding in the unstressed condition as sold,

FIG. 2 shows the moulding in use in association with a partition and acarpet,

FIG. 3 shows the moulding in use as associated with a wall and tiledflooring.

As shown in FIG. 1, the skirting member is an elongated extrudedmoulding of plastics material, for example polyvinyl chloride, havingthe cross section as shown in the drawings. This cross section includesa generally vertical flange 1 having an upper portion la and a lowerportion lb connected together by an angled intermediate portion 1c. Thefront face 2 of portion la is exposed in use and has a smooth finish soas to be of pleasing or at least acceptable appearance. Also the top ofportion la curves over rearwardly away from the face 2.

A base flange 4 extends substantially horizontally from the lower edgeof the vertical flange l, rearwardly with respect to the face 2. Thisbase flange 4 forms the lowermost portion of the wall base member and sois contactable with a horizontal floor on which the member rests. Asshown, the angle between the base flange 4 and the wall engaging partsof the vertical flange, which are the lower portion lb and the top edgeof the vertical flange, is slightly less than a right angle so that ifflange 4 is pressed onto a horizontal floor then the top of the verticalflange is forced rearwardly. At the outer edge of the flange 4 isprovided an upstanding rib 6 having a substantially perpendicular rearface 6a. The face 60 is separated from the vertical flange portion lb bya distance slightly wider than partitions or walls against which theskirting member is to be used, so that the surface 6a can locate againstthe far side of this partition or wall. The base flange 4 is alsoprovided with a longitudinal notch 7 running approximately along thecenter of the flange and this allows the flange to be severed readilyalong this notch for the purpose to be described.

A flexible flap 9 for concealing the edges of a flooring material slopesforwardly and downwardly from the lower edge of the vertical flangeportion la. The upper portion 9a of this flap is of the same material asthat forming the remainder of the moulding, although tapered forflexibility. The outer portion of the flap 9, shown at 9b, is of softermaterial, however, for example a synthetic rubber or polyvinyl chloridewith a large amount of plasticer, this outer portion being extrudedintegrally with the remainder of the moulding.

Suitable dimensions for the moulding are a height of 2-3 inches for thevertical flange, and a width of say 1 inch for the base flange, althoughthe latter dimension will be suited to the width of partition or walls.Clearly, the dimensions are also to some extent dependent on thethickness of the flooring material to be engaged by the flap 9, and theoverall height of the flap is preferably several times greater than thethickness of the flooring material.

FIG. 2 shows the skirting member in use with a partition 11 having a gapbetween its lower edge and the floor 12. The base flange 4 is insertedinto this gap, and the rib 6, which passes resiliently through the gap,engages with its forwards face 6a on the far side of the wall and soholds the skirting member in place. With the base flange 4 held in thisway, the moulding is distorted slightly from the unstressed conditionshown in FIG. 1 so that the wall engaging parts, i.e., the lower flangelb and the upper edge of the vertical flange are held tightly againstthe wall. After the skirting member has been fitted as shown, the edgeof the carpet 14 is inserted under the flexible flap 9.

Fig. 3 shows the skirting member in use with a wall 21 which iscontiguous with the floor 22. In this case, since there is no gap forinsertion of the horizontal flange 4, the outer portion of this flangeis cut off along the longitudinal notch 7, and the narrow inner portionof the base flange is rivetted, nailed, or screwed onto the floor. Forthis purpose, the base flange is positioned as required, and thevertical flange is then bent away from the wall, the base flange being,hen secured to the floor either by means of screws applied with apower-driven screwdriver, or rivets applied from a rivet gap, or withnails.

From FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be evident that the use of the flexible flap9 as shown, which slopes downwardly and forwardly at an angle of about45 to the horizontal and which in the relaxed state has its lower edgeadjacent the plane of the base flange, allows the edges of widelyvarying thicknesses of flooring material to be concealed between theflap and the floor on which the base flange rests. Thus, the flooringmaterial may be very thin, as in FIG. 3, or several times thicker thanthis, as in FIG. 2, and in each case the flap 9 presents a curvedsurface between the flooring material and the decorative face of theflange l. The expression widely varying thickness" as used herein willbe understood as meaning thicknesses varying by a ratio of at least 2:l.

I claim:

1. A wall base member for fitting along the base of a partition or walland for concealing the edges of a flooring material, comprising anelongated angle moulding of plastics material having a normally verticalflange, said vertical flange having an upper portion and a lowerportion, said upper portion of said flange having an exposed decorativefront face, a base flange extending rearwardly from the lower edge ofsaid vertical flange, said base flange lying in a substantiallyhorizontal plane and forming the lowermost portion of the wall basemember so as to be contactable with a horizontal floor on which themember rests, and a flexible flap for concealing the edges of flooringmaterial, said flap being joined at its upper edge to the lower edge ofsaid upper portion of the vertical flange and sloping forwardly anddownwardly from said upper portion, the lower edge of said flexible flapbeing adjacent the plane of said base flange when in relaxed conditionand said flap being flexible to accommodate widely varying thicknessesof flooring material above said plane.

2. A wall base member according to claim 1, wherein the outer edge ofthe base flange extends behind the rearmost extremity of the verticalflange and is provided with an upstandin rib.

3. A wall base member according to claim 2, wherein the base flange ismade of material penetrable by rivets or nails,

and wherein said base flange has a longitudinal notch near the centerthereof, whereby an outer longitudinal portion of the base flangeincluding said rib may be broken away and whereby the wall base membermay be used either with the said upstanding rib engaging the side of awall or partition remote from that at which said member is situated, ormay be used with said outer portion broken away and with the remainderattached to a floor by rivets or nails.

4. A skirting member according to claim I, wherein at least the outerportion of said flexible flap is formed of a material softer than thatof the remainder of the moulding.

# I It l 1'

1. A wall base member for fitting along the base of a partition or walland for concealing the edges of a flooring material, comprising anelongated angle moulding of plastics material having a normally verticalflange, said vertical flange having an upper portion and a lowerportion, said upper portion of said flange having an exposed decorativefront face, a base flange extending rearwardly from the lower edge ofsaid vertical flange, said base flange lying in a substantiallyhorizontal plane and forming the lowermost portion of the wall basemember so as to be contactable with a horizontal floor on which themember rests, and a flexible flap for concealing the edges of flooringmaterial, said flap being joined at its upper edge to the lower edge ofsaid upper portion of the vertical flange and sloping forwardly anddownwardly from said upper portion, the lower edge of said flexible flapbeing adjacent the plane of said base flange when in relaxed conditionand said flap being flexible to accommodate widely varying thicknessesof flooring material above said plane.
 2. A wall base member accordingto claim 1, wherein the outer edge of the base flange extends behind therearmost extremity of the vertical flange and is provided with anupstanding rib.
 3. A wall base member according to claim 2, wherein thebase flange is made of material penetrable by rivets or nails, andwherein said base flange has a longitudinal notch near the centerthereof, whereby an outer longitudinal portion of the base flangeincluding said rib may be broken away and whereby the wall base membermay be used either with the said upstanding rib engaging the side of awall or partition remote from that at which said member is situated, ormay be used with said outer portion broken away and with the remainderattached to a floor by rivets or nails.
 4. A skirting member accordingto claim 1, wherein at least the outer portion of said flexible flap isformed of a material softer than that of the remainder of the moulding.